Smith College book sale starts Friday

Dave Rosenthal

Among the annual events that should be marked on every book lover's calendar is the Smith College Club of Baltimore book sale, which starts Friday at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. I've been going to the sales for years, and have never failed to make some interesting purchases. (The harder part is convincing my wife, a Kindle devotee, to let me bring more books into the house, which already has reading material on almost every flat surface -- except the stove. If I can find some fire-proof volumes, that will be covered too.)

As this article notes, volunteers have been gathering books for months -- and are already taking donations for the 2014 sale. They have packed more than 1,300 boxes of books for this year's event, the 55th sponsored by the club. Proceeds go to a Smith scholarship fund that has grown to about $500,000 since the first sale in 1958; the fund pays partial tuition for two to three students a year from Maryland.

Here are the hours for the sale:

Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (There is a $10 donation for the first hour only.)

Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Sunday, noon to 8 p.m. (Half-price all day, and "all you can carry" for $5 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.)